Lewis Reed Says He'll Run for Mayor Again As Supporters Lament Another Francis Slay Term

At around 10:30 p.m. last night inside the Carpenters Hall on Hampton Avenue, a smiling Francis Slay appeared on two large monitors flanked by "Reed for Mayor" signs. The audio of the mayor's victory speech, airing live on KTVI (Channel 2), was muted inside the large room, where loud music continued to blast as supporters of Lewis Reed learned -- in a somewhat odd fashion -- that their candidate had officially lost.

Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, was nowhere in sight. A few shuffled out, but most moved toward the front of the room and watched Slay's silent speech.

"The city's not ready for change," said Kathy Entrup, Reed's sister-in-law, as she waited in the crowd. "The city is complacent."

"He'll try again," another supporter mumbled. After about five minutes, Reed finally emerged with his teary wife and campaign team by his side.

"I did not want to leave any of you waiting any longer for us to come down," Reed told the crowd, explaining that he was trying to get in touch with Slay on the phone -- but was having trouble reaching him. "I'll tell you what, we ran a hell of a race!"

Sam Levin

Reed supporters watch Slay's victory speech live.

It was a slightly awkward opener to the concession speech (as televisions in the room for some reason began to broadcast distracting background noise), but the crowd gave him a loud cheer. Meanwhile Slay, at a gathering downtown, began celebrating his primary victory -- and his virtually certain path to an unprecedented fourth term that comes with the win.

"Our message of 'One St. Louis' -- although we didn't prevail and we weren't successful in a win tonight -- what we have done is raise the consciousness of this city," Reed said in his late-night speech. "We know we can do better.... Sometimes it may not be about the win. It may be about the path."

Sam Levin

Lewis Reed during his concession speech.

He said, "Can you imagine how quickly we can change St. Louis with just the people in this room?"

Toward the end of the eleven-minute speech, he added, "We're gonna build a stronger, safer, more unified St. Louis whether we occupy Room 200 or not."

Eventually, though, he will. Or at least he'll try. After his speech, Reed told Daily RFT that he'll run for mayor again -- for sure.